Short term impacts
In the 19th century the mentally ill were treated like grime. They were not seen as human beings but seen as the floor that ordinary people stepped on everyday. Dix changed that with her public awareness to the government about the special need that the mentally ill needed at the time. She helped America start building hospitals that were made for the mentally ill. What she did for the mentally in her time helped out how know how modern day America looks at the mentally ill.
Long term impacts
Since Dix and Galt changed how the patients were treated; hospitals, asylums, and even prisons have changed how they treat their patients. They do not torture their patients any more like they did in the 1700s through the 1900s. They have changed their treatment tactics and how they give these patients the care that they need. Dix and Galt have changed how the world sees these mentally ill people and how they should be represented human beings and not anything less.